People Aint No Good, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

When you're feeling a bit existential and angsty, there's no better album to listen to than The Boatman's Call. It's Nick Cave at his most dreary and depressing. It's amazing.

You can probably guess from the title the tone of the song, but it's amazing that this kind of self-indulgent depression can feel so universal at times. It's so poetic, Cave uses the metaphor of blossoms: how they bloom and then fall to express his lost love (possibly his relationship with PJ Harvey). I love it when he addresses his love in a series of lines, my favourite of which reads 'To our love, a valentine of blood.' It shows the inevitable breakdown of relationships, how it's always passionate but destined to end with a burst of really violent emotion.

The end of this relationship has left Cave bitter. I love the macabre opening as he sings the title in his deeply soulful baritone in such a frank manner. But it kind of shows the kind of destroyed soul as you realise you're alone with nothing, and no one to help you. Nature is even depressing and embodies how he feels about fleeting relationships and the anger it leaves him with:

Seasons came, seasons went
The winter stripped the blossoms bare
A different tree now lines the streets
Shaking its fists in the air


It's just beautiful, with some wonderful music to match. The glassy percussion allowing Cave to just vent over it, and the strings performed by Ellis is such a perfect melancholy match for the song. It's not all negative, he reflects how people try and comfort you, and even bury you when you die, but ultimately he's alone forever.